Home networks are connecting an ever-increasing number of devices in the home, allowing home users to manage, operate, and automate a variety of home equipment, from entertainment devices to utility-connected devices. Unfortunately, configuring access to devices on a home network may be a challenging task for non-sophisticated users.
Some users may wish to provide guests in their homes with temporary access to some devices. However, providing guests with home network access and/or the local network address and password to access administrative interfaces of the devices may be burdensome for both the home owner and guest, as well as insecure. On the other hand, simply exposing a home device to the global Internet may open the device to attack by anyone.
Traditional approaches for providing access to devices on a home network such as Universal Plug and Play (UPnP) may offer too little control and security. Traditional approaches for controlling home network traffic, such as Internet Protocol (IP) forwarding, may be difficult for users to understand and properly configure.
Accordingly, the instant disclosure identifies and addresses a need for additional and improved systems and methods for providing secure access to local network devices.